1.. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus.
2. Related Art
In the related art, there are known so-called ink jet recording apparatuses which record images and text using minute droplets of ink which are discharged from nozzles in an ink jet recording head. Various inks are used as the inks which are used in the recording of the images and the like according to such ink jet recording apparatuses, such as aqueous inks where coloring materials (for example, pigments) are dissolved and dispersed in a mixture of an organic solvent and water, and non-aqueous inks where coloring materials are dissolved and dispersed in an organic solvent, and the like.
In a case of using an ink jet recording apparatus, there are times when ink is attached to nozzle forming surfaces where the nozzles are provided. There are times when the ink which is attached to the nozzle forming surfaces is thickened and solidified due to the evaporation of water and other volatile components which are included therein. In addition, there are cases where fiber waste and paper dust which are generated from recording media such as paper or cloth are attached to the nozzle forming surfaces. In this manner, when foreign matter such as ink, paper, fibers, and dust are attached to the nozzles or the vicinity of the nozzles, there are cases where normal discharge of the ink is blocked.
In addition, in recent ink jet recording apparatuses, the diameters of the nozzles which discharge ink are smaller in order to perform high-definition recording, and the energy which is needed in the discharging of the inks is also reduced accordingly. When the nozzle diameters and the energy which is needed in the discharging are reduced, ink discharge failures due to nozzle clogging occur easily and discharge failures due to bubbles which enter ink flow paths or inside the nozzles occur easily.
With respect to the problem of discharge failures, for example, JP-A-2012-144035 discloses a mechanism which moisturizes a nozzle surface of a head after flowing a cleaning liquid between a nozzle surface of a head and a cleaning liquid holding surface which is installed in parallel with the nozzle surface, accumulating the used cleaning liquid in a lower flow section, moving the head to an upper section of a portion where the cleaning liquid remains, and wiping off the nozzle surface with a wiper blade of rubber or the like which is arranged at the portion where the cleaning liquid remains. In addition, JP-A-2004-209897 discloses a mechanism which moisturizes a nozzle surface by cleaning the nozzle surface by filling the inside of a capping member with cleaning liquid in a state where the nozzle surface is capped and filling the inside of the capping member with cleaning liquid again after wiping (wiping off) the nozzle surface.
The mechanisms which wipe off a nozzle forming surface and which are described in JP-A-2012-144035 and JP-A-2004-209897 all use a wiper of rubber or the like. Since it is not possible for such wipers of rubber or the like to absorb foreign matter which is attached to the nozzle forming surface, the foreign matter is pushed inside the nozzles during the wiping off and discharge failure may be generated.
In addition, since the wipers of rubber or the like move while pushing aside the foreign matter which is attached to the nozzle forming surface toward the outside from the central portion of the wipers, it is possible to set the immediate vicinity of the nozzles to a state where foreign matter is not present; however, foreign matter is likely to be deposited at the periphery of the wiper (that is, the end sections of the nozzle forming surface). In a case where the foreign matter is deposited on the nozzle forming surface in this manner, if there is a capping member or the like which moisturizes the nozzle forming surface, capping failure or the like may be generated and cause a discharge failure.
However, in a case where a mechanism which wipes off the nozzle surface with a wiper or the like is used in order to avoid the problems described above, there are cases where there is significant damage to a liquid repelling film due to the pushing pressure of the wiper pressing on the nozzle surface. When the liquid repelling film is damaged in this manner, the discharging of the ink is unstable and there are cases where problems occur such as that the landing positions of the liquid droplets (dots) of the ink are shifted.